Field
The present disclosure relates to a rechargeable battery.
Description of the Related Art
A rechargeable battery differs from a primary battery in that it can be repeatedly charged and discharged, while the latter is incapable of being recharged. Research has been actively conducted for applying the rechargeable battery to high technology fields, and as a result, the rechargeable battery is commercially available and widely used.
Recently, large capacity/high power rechargeable batteries using a non-aqueous electrolyte and having a high energy density have been developed, and the rechargeable batteries are connected in series and/or parallel, thereby forming a large capacity/high power battery module in order to be able to be used in power storage applications and in devices that requires high powers.
Such a rechargeable battery, which may be referred to as a battery cell, is manufactured in various shapes such as a cylindrical, prismatic, or pouch shape, and a medium to large battery module that requires high power is configured to include a cylindrical or prismatic rechargeable battery that can easily implement high capacity.
In order to form the battery cell, an electrode assembly that is formed by interposing a separator acting as an insulator between positive and negative electrodes and an electrolyte solution are accommodated in a case at which a cap plate is installed. In this case, a positive electrode terminal and a negative terminal are connected to the electrode assembly, and they are formed to be protruded outside through the cap plate.
When a battery module is formed by electrically connecting the battery cells, since the electrode terminals of the conventional art are fixed in a single direction, an additional space for connecting the electrode terminals is required, and thus the volume of the battery module increases. Further, since a circuit and the like for the battery module should be disposed on an upper portion of where the electrode terminals are disposed, flexibility for forming of the battery module decreases and user's selectivity is limited.
Moreover, in some applications, such as electric vehicles, when the electrode terminals on the battery cell protrude from the upper portion of the battery cell, the height of the cell is increased, which may cause the height of electric vehicles housing the cells to increase.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only to enhance the understanding of the background of the disclosure and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.